On Monday, Robin Williams' grieving wife asked for privacy. A day later, the Marin County sheriff's office revealed graphic facts about the beloved actor's suicide. Many who watched coverage of the news conference were stunned — and offended — by the level of detail disclosed. Shock turned to anger as the media reported the facts.

Investigators in California said Williams' death was a suicide by hanging. Officials detailed how he was found dead in a bedroom, clothed, slightly suspended in a seated position with a belt around his neck, with one end of it wedged between a closet door frame.

Robin Williams(Photo: Reed Saxon, AP)

In California, the information revealed during the news conference is open record. There is a legal obligation to release the findings.

The public outcry doesn't surprise Craig Harvey, chief coroner investigator with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

"We got the same blowback from Michael Jackson's death," he said.

The coroner's office is a public records office, "so all of that information, as uncomfortable as it might be, is fair game," he said.

While the public gets protective of well-loved celebrities, providing information to the public "is what we do," Harvey said.

But what about the media ethics involved?

Al Tompkins, of media watchdog Poynter, said it's legitimate and defensible for the networks, local TV stations and online sites to carry the news conference live. However, that doesn't mean journalists need to repeat the graphic details.

"The coroner's office has an obligation to report what they know," Tompkins said. "Journalists don't have the obligation to report that information over and over again in that level of detail."

Tompkins said he would struggle to defend the deep details of exactly how Williams killed himself. However, he cautioned that that doesn't mean the details are never crucial. Context is key.

"In Michael Jackson's case, there was great disagreement over what occurred and how it occurred," Tompkins said. "Then the details of his death become much more important to understand exactly what happened."

"Suicide experts say graphic details about the exact cause of death — the details of the death particularly when they involve a celebrity — are more likely to have the 'contagion affect,'" Tompkins said, which can breed copycats.

"Graphic details of the cause of death are not nearly as helpful as a deeper conversation about intervention, depression and the need for mental health care," he said.

Ultimately, Tompkins stressed the key for the media is to always ask the question: "What is the journalistic purpose for what we do?"

See the outrage on Twitter:

‏@katevmurphy: "Why are the police having a press conference & offering up very intimate details about Robin Williams' death? This isn't anyone's business."

Why are the police having a press conference & offering up very intimate details about Robin WIlliams' death? This isn't anyone's business.

Actor Robin Williams, 63, was found unconscious and not breathing inside his home in Tiburon, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. He was pronounced dead of suspected suicide. We remember Williams as we look back at the beloved actor's illustrious career. (Photo: Todd Plitt, USA TODAY)

In 2013 Williams, here with actress Alice Drummond told USA TODAY that his role as Malcom Saver int he 1990 motion picture "Awakenings" was his favorite. The part is based on neurologist Oliver Sacks. (Photo: Louis Goldman, Columbia Pictures)

Williams, center, won an Academy Award in 1998 for best supporting actor in "Good Will Hunting." Matt Damon, left, and Ben Affleck, right, also won for the movie's screenplay. (Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY)

Williams donates blood at the Irwin Memorial Blood Center in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of people waited in long lines to donate blood for victims of terrorist attacks in New York and in Washington. (Photo: Justin Sullivan, AP)

An avid cyslist, Williams rides with his friend Lance Armstrong during a training session as part of a rest day before the 15th stage of the 89th Tour de France in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, France in July 2002. (Photo: Olivier Morin, AFP/Getty Images)

Ben Stiller, left, and Williams in a scene from their 2006 movie "Night at the Museum." The third and final installment in the comedy series, "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" is due in theaters Dec. 19. (Photo: Doane Gregory, 20th Century Fox)